VALLEYS-BASED bioscience company Penn Pharma is starting work on a new 15,000ft cold storage facility at its warehouse in Tredegar.

The facility, which will be built to the highest specifications, is scheduled to be completed by June.

Equipped with the latest technology, the cold store is powered by an essential services electrical supply with generator back up.

It is validated to run on any two of the four available refrigeration units, resulting in 100% back up capacity.

The cold storage unit will be large enough to allow secondary packaging and labelling processes to take place inside.

The facility will be continually monitored and alarmed using advanced wireless telemetry.

The construction of the cold store forms part of Penn Pharma’s £12m expansion programme.

Plans for the expansion programme will be rolled out over the next five years, with the company aiming to complete upgrades in keeping with its growth.

Paul Thomas, chief scientfic officer at Penn Pharma, said: “The significant cold store facility will double our capacity, and will strengthen our position as a leading pharmaceutical company in Wales and worldwide.

“We have heavily invested in the expansion of our Tredegar site, and look forward to our continued growth.”

Penn, founded 30 years ago and based at Tredegar for the past 23 years, is a fully integrated pharmaceutical company which combines a complete pharmaceutical development service with highly-specialised niche and low-volume clinical and commercial manufacturing.

The company has achieved strong growth in recent years, with customers from many of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies in the UK, EU and USA.